Over the Sea and Far Away

Fantasy Australia Sandbox

Attunement House Rules

Attunement House Rules:

Attuning an Item:
In order to attune an item, a player must succeed in one of the Attunement Options for the Type and Nature of the magic item. DM's should feel free to create unique Attunement Options (like visiting specific places, defeating major foes or acquiring other items) in addition to the standard options.

Max Number of Attuned Items:
A character may have a maximum of 3 attunements.

Attunement Frequency:
A character may attempt attunement once every d6 days.

Ending Attunement:
If a character wishes to end attunement with an item, they must complete another of the Attunement Options for that item, which may include the destruction of the item. (Frodo was attuned to the One Ring by the end, as
were Smeagol and Bilbo). Simply discarding an item does not end attunement, and for some items, multiple people can be attuned at the same time.

If a character successfully ends attunement on an item, they cannot become attuned to a different item for d4 weeks.

Attunement Options:
All magic items can be attuned using the Ritual or Test of Will attunement options. Other Attunement options are available based on the Creator and Nature of the item.

Magic Item Creators:

In my campaign, powerful magical items (which all require attunement) aren't just created by different races – they are often powered by the spirits or elemental forces of those races. These spirits determine the general aspects of the magic items, and also inform how a character can become attuned to
an item. Conversely, this makes certain items unattunable by specific races, or by characters who already have an antagonistic item attuned.

Abyssal

Abyssal items contain a bound demon. They cannot be attuned by Good-aligned characters, are antagonistic to Celestial and Fiendish items.

Ancient Race

Ancient Race items are powered by demi-gods, ancestral spirits or ancient heroes specific to the culture that created them. Roll randomly on this table for their antagonist item type, or select one that is appropriate to the culture that created the item.

Drow

Drow items are powered either by Llolth directly, or by a lesser demonic servitor of Llolth. They cannot be attuned by Good aligned character or by non-Drow elves. They are antagonistic to Elven and Celestial items.

Dwarven

Dwarf items are powered by dwarven ancestral spirits, by dwarven gods, or by earth elementals bound by the dwarves. They cannot be attuned by Elves, and are antagonistic to Draconic and Giantish items.

Elemental (water) – these items are powered by water elemental spirits. They are
antagonistic to Elemental Fire items.

Elven

Elven items contain Elven ancestral spirits or powerful Fey spirits. They cannot be attuned by Drow Elves or Dwarves, and are antagonistic to Drow and Dwarven items.

Attunement Options: Pact, Meditation

Fey

Fey items contain Seelie or Unseelie fey spirits or bound Fomorian powers. They are antagonistic to Fiendish and Giantish items.

Attunement Options: Pact, Challenge

Fiendish

Fiendish items are powered by bound devils. They cannot be attuned by Good aligned characters, and are antagonistic to Celestial and Abyssal items.

Attunement Options: Blood Sacrifice, Pact, Defeat Foe, Direct Combat

Foe: Demon, Celestial, Powerful good creatures.

Giant

Giantish items are powered by giantish demi-gods or by the powers of the Giant-race patriarchs (Sutr, Thrym). They cannot be attuned by Dwarves or Dragon-kin, and are antagonistic to Dwarven and Draconic items.

Attunement Options: Test of Wills, Defeat Foe, Direct Combat

Gnome

Gnomish items are powered by spirits of glamor and illusion, or by fey spirits. They cannot by attuned by Lawful characters, but they are not antagonistic.

Attunement Options: Test of Wills, Challenge

Magic Item Nature

Arcane: Arcane objects can always be attuned via Meditation.

Bane: Bane objects can always be attuned by Defeating the Foe they are designed to counteract.

Legendary: Legendary items can always be attuned by the Challenge of locating the remains or place of power of the legendary hero.

Ornament: Ornamental items can always be attuned by the Challenge of using them in the special event they were designed for, or displaying them prominently for a specific period of time.

Prophecy: Prophecy items can always be attuned by the Challenge of fulfilling one of the steps of the prophecy they represent.

Religious icon: Religious Icons can always be attuned by Meditation.

Sinister: Sinister items can always be attuned by Blood Sacrifice, usually by recreation of the event they are associated with.

Symbol of power: Symbols of Power can always be attuned by the rightful heir of the power/authority they represent.

Attunement Options:

Ritual
All items can be attuned by the means of a magical ritual, although the details of this ritual can be difficult and expensive to discover.

There are several ways for a character to discover the ritual required to attune a
weapon.

Quest: The details of the attunement ritual can be the reward for a a quest or part of a treasure horde.

Research: With access to sufficient lore, a character can recreate the details of the ritual:
Either an Int or Lore (Magic) check,

DC 13 for Common

15 for Uncommon

17 for Rare

19 for Very Rare

21 for Legendary or

23 for Artifact.

Sage

A sage can likely discover the attunement ritual for an item, cost is d100 gp for Common, d100x5 gp for Uncommon, d100x25 for Rare, d100x50 for Very Rare, d100x100 for Legendary and d100x500 for Artifact.

Divination

Divination magic can expose the attunement ritual for the item. A cleric or wizard will generally charge the equivalent to the sage costs for the spell.

Material Cost: The material cost for the ritual is d10 gp for Common, d10x5 gp for Uncommon, d10x25 for Rare, d10x50 for Very Rare, d10x100 for Legendary and d10x500 for artifact.

Test of Wills
All items can also be attuned by a test of wills, essentially forcing the spirit of the item to accept you as a wielder, similar to Aragorn forcing the palantir or one of Elric's many mental tussles with Stormbringer.

The Test of Wills is a contested Wisdom, Constitution or Charisma check (depending on the type of item) against the spirit that binds the item. The initial test takes d4 hours. Whatever type of test is initiated, the spirit of the item has a modifier based on the power of the item. Common items, +0, Uncommon
items +1, Rare items +2, Very Rare items +3, Legendary items +4 and Artifacts +6.

If the character wins, then the item is attuned to them. Some powerful or sentient items will periodically re-initiate a Test of Wills, based on their desires or the characters actions (Stormbringer is a dick that way).

If the character loses, they cannot attempt to attune the item via a test of wills for d4 weeks, and they suffer other ill effects based on how badly they lost the check:
Draw: No ill effect
-1 to -3: d6 hp damage.
-4 to -6: 2d6 hp damage and 1 point temporarily lost from check stat.
-7 to -9: 3d6 hp damage and weakness resulting in -1 to all checks for 1 day.
-10 or more: Permanent loss of 1 point from check stat.

Blood Sacrifice

Evil spirits often accept a blood sacrifice in order to accept attunement. The character must sacrifice one or more sentient beings using the item. The number of beings required for the sacrifice depends on the power of the item. 1 for Common, 1d4 for Uncommon, 1d6 for Rare, 1d10 for Very Rare, 1d12 for Legendary and 1d20 for Artifact.

Pact

Many items contain bound spirits with particular goals or ideologies, which resent or oppose being wielded for cross-purposes.

Attuning Pact items involves negotiating with the spirit of the item and reaching an agreement with it. Generally, Pact will include pledges not to attack members of the race that created the item, and may also include quests on behalf of the spirit of the item.

Defeat Foe

Many items, especially weapons, are forged specifically to defeat great foes. Wielding the item while defeating one (or more) of these foes will will the approval of the spirits bound in the item and allow immediate attunement.

Meditation

The attunement secrets of some items can be discovered through extended periods of arcane or divine mediation and focus. The Mediation attunement option is only available to spell-casting classes. The Meditation process requires 24 uninterrupted hours of intense focus. As this process is both physically and mentally draining, the character must make 2 checks. One Con check with a DC of 13 to see if the character can withstand the physical effort, and one Int or Wis check with a DC based on the item's power.

Each additional hour over 24 that the character spends adds +1 to the Int/Wis check, but requires an additional DC 13 Con check. DC 12 for Common, 14 for Uncommon, 16 for Rare, 18 for Very Rare, 20 for Legendary or 22 for Artifact.

Challenge

A Challenge is any quest, journey or additional item (magical or mundane) that is
required to attune the item. A Challenge may be to bring the item to a specific holy location, to defeat the undead shade of the item's previous wielder, or to locate 9 cat's-eye sapphires that used to be set in the magical necklace.

Challenges are basically item specific plot hooks.

Direct Combat

Some spirits and races value direct, physical power. The spirit inhabiting the item will manifest and physically battle to character. Outside assistance may or may not be allowed, depending on the spirit. The toughness of the spirit should be approximately based on the power of the item. You can also substitute spectral or spirit versions of the appropriate monster or creature, as appropriate.

1-3 HD for Common, 4-5 HD for Uncommon, 6-9 HD for Rare, 10-15 HD for Very Rare, 15+HD for Legendary and 20 HD for Artifacts.